Ten Theater Shows to Watch Out for This Season

What could match the excitement of a new play by satirical master Christopher Durang? Reuniting him with pal Sigourney Weaver. Durang’s tale sets characters and themes from Chekhov in present-day Bucks County, Pa., so expect oddball scenarios galore. (Opens September 7 at New Jersey’s McCarter Theater; transfers to New York City’s Lincoln Center Theater for November 12)

Starring Alicia Silverstone, Cheyenne Jackson, Henry Winkler, Ari Graynor, Jenni Barber, and Daniel Breaker, the show is about two guys who were friends in high school and reconnect at the Adult Film Awards in Las Vegas. Campy? Are you serious, of course! (Previews begin October 23, Opens November 14 on Broadway at the Longacre Theatre)

Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?

Sparring, sloshy couple George and Martha return in this revival of Edward Albee’s classic. The production begins exactly 50 years to the day after the play’s original Broadway premiere in 1962. (Previews begin September 27, Opens October 13 at New York’s Booth Theater)

Based on an unfinished novel by Charles Dickens, the delightfully odd musical stars Chita Rivera. It’s the first revival of the show on Broadway since it won five Tony Awards, including Best Musical, Best Book, and Best Original Score, for its original run in the 1980s. (Previews begin October 19 at New York’s Roundabout Theatre at Studio 54)

Oscar nominee Jessica Chastain (The Help) and two-time Tony winner Judith Ivey (Designing Women) star in this revival of the 1947 play, directed by Moisés Kaufman (The Laramie Project), about a young woman who must choose between love and her inheritance when a suitor her father distrusts enters the picture. Based on the Henry James novel Washington Square. (Opens November 1 at New York's Walter Kerr Theatre)

Joanna Gordon, artistic director at Long Beach’s California Repertory Company, explores the work of two of her muses, lyricist Stephen Sondheim and transgressive poet Charles Bukowski, in what could be the most unconventional musical of the year. (Opens November 2 at the Queen Mary’s Royal Theater in Long Beach, Calif.)

Young playwright Steve Yockey continues to turn in disturbing, surreal portraits of gay male life in the 21st century. This time it’s a warped fairytale about a man who brings home a “big bad wolf” for a one-night stand, and the consequences for him and his roommate. (Opens November 10 at Atlanta’s Actor’s Express Theatre)

Audiences will get a heavy dose of opera history in celebrated gay playwright Terrence McNally’s latest as they’re transported to the backstage drama of the 1835 premiere of Bellini's opera I Puritani. Walter Bobbie returns to direct after the show’s original Kennedy Center run. (Previews begin November 13 at Manhattan Theatre Club at New York City Center)

Trevor Nunn (Cats, Les Miserables) directs this revival of the musical retelling of Shakespeare's The Taming of the Shrew with music and lyrics by Cole Porter.Will it make it to the States? Maybe. But do you want to risk missing out on this? (Previews begins November 20 at London's Old Vic)